1998 Ford Taurus SHO rear view3 of 14The 1996-1999 Taurus SHO looked a lot more like a regular Taurus than its predecessors. The oval rear window upset "traditional" American sedan buyers and went away after 1999.

The Taurus SHO didn't even get an automatic transmission as an option until the 1993 model year, but at least 5-speed versions could be purchased through 1995 (non-SHO Tauruses with three pedals are so incredibly rare that I consider this 1986 Taurus MT-5 to be my greatest Junkyard Treasure of last year). For the 1996-1999 Taurus SHOs, a four-speed slushbox was mandatory, but at least it came with this fairly raucus 235-horsepower aluminum-block V8, based on the Duratec V6 and developed with help from Yamaha and Cosworth. By the time today's Junkyard Treasure hit the market, Ford was already pushing a hot-rodded version of the Detroitified Ford Mondeo, known as the Contour SVT, and that car could be had with a 5-speed bolted to its 195-horsepower Duratec V6.

Just barely cracked the 100,000-mile mark. Photo by Murilee Martin

The SHO V8 engine suffered from cam-gear problems that nuked a lot of engines, so perhaps that's the reason such a low-mile car ended up at my local Pull-It-Yerself wrecking yard; it's also possible that its final owner racked up many unpaid parking tickets and the car didn't attract any interest at the subsequent impounded-cars auction. Unexpectedly, the few 1996-1999 Taurus SHOs that have competed in the 24 Hours of Lemons race series have been far more reliable (though also much slower) than their earlier V6 SHO brethren.